Astronomy and Space

Stars

Which stars are the brightest?

The brightness of a star is called its magnitude. Apparent magnitude is how bright a star appears to the naked eye. The lower the magnitude, the brighter the star. On a clear night, stars of about magnitude 16 can be seen with the naked eye. Large telescopes can detect objects as faint as 127. Very bright objects have negative magnitudes; the sun is –26.8.